Improvement in the manufacture of horseshoe-nails



UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

`ALEXANDEh. H. GARYL, OF. GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT; I'N THE MAN'UFACTURFE OF H-ORSESHOE-NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 131,664, datedSeptember 24, 1872.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ALnxANnrnt H. GARYL, of Groton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Horseshoe- Nails; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention relates to a method of cutting up rolled nail-plates to form therefrom nailblanks, to be finished' by being drawn and pointed, the invention being particularly adapted to and intended for use in the manufacture of horseshoe-nails, and the invention having referenceto a method of punching the blanks by which the operation is made very simple,.and a minimum of waste is incurred in the cutting operation. i

In practicingmy improved method I use a strip of metal, the width of which is of the full `length of one blank, plus the length of head 'of another, the head-forming portions or edges of the plate being so rolled that each edge forms a series of nail-heads-by being-cut Aor punched from the plate-side by side, with no Y waste or space between adjacent heads, while the thin web or portion of the plate between the thick head-forming edges embraces the material and only the material for the shanks of the series of nails or nail-blanks of which the opposite edges of the plate form the heads.

In my process of `punchin g the blanks I feed the plates into the machine in succession, or one after and against another; or, in other words, I make the machine with a gang of punches, to be simultaneously acting upon several plates, and I place the punches at such respective distances apart yas will bring the plates, by regular and successive equal feedmovements, into positions for the respective blanks to be cut therefrom, the punches being so arrangedthat the iirst punch cuts the rst nail of each plate; the second punch cuts the third nail--on the same side of the plate; the

third punch cuts the second nail; the fourth punch cuts the iifth nail, and the fth punch cuts the fourth nail, and so on, the nail-plates being fed by the reciprocatingfeed-bar, having equal movements, and each feed-movement of h the bar carrying an entire plate from one punch `to the next punch-as, forinstance, if the nailplate be four inches long, then each feed-movement of the bar -the punches being properly spaced-is six inches. lt is in this method of cuttingup the nail-plates that my invention consists; or in a machine havinga gang of simultaneouslyacting punches, and av feed mechanism-for presenting the nail-plates, the extent of each feed-movement being in excess of the length ofthe plate, the feed mechanism presenting each plate, so that the first punch, at each descent, cuts the rst nail from a plate, the second punch, at the same time, cutting the third nail from the plate in advance the third punch cutting the second nail from the plate in advance of the plate acted upon by the second punch, and so on, there being, when all the punches are punching, as many plates simultaneously operated upon as there are punches in the gang, and each plate having only one blank cut from it at a time. this method ofpunchingnail-blanks from rolled nail-plates that my invention primarily consists.

The drawing represents, in front elevation and in sectional plan, a punch and plate feeding mechanism arranged to operate in accordance with my invention.

a b c d e f g denote seven punches of a gan g, designed to cut, at eachyoperation, after the rst plate has reached the seventh punch, seven blanks from seven4 plates, each plate bein g of a length sufficient for seven blanks to be cut therefrom. These punches are all affixed to carriers h, connected to and operated by eccentrics z' on a driving-shaft, k, all the punches moving simultaneously and cutting together. On the end ofthe shaftk is a bevelgear, l, which meshes into and drives a bevel-gear, m. on the upper end of a shaft, fn, at whose lower end is a crank-arm, o, the pin p of which extends into a slot, q, of a pawl-lever,fr, the end of which lever is jointed to a pawl-slide, s, having pawlteeth t that engage with ratchet-teeth u of a feed-bar, t, each rotation of thedriving-shaft effecting a descent of all the punches, and a rotation of the crank, and a consequent feedmovement of the bar. lThe front or rst nailplate is clamped to the feed-bar in such position that when the first ratchet-tooth of the bar is in engagement with the rst pawl of the It is in v pawl-slide, and said slide has been once moved forward by the ratchet-bar, the end of the nailplatc is under the first punch a, and, preferably, in such position that the end of the plate formsthe outer-side edge x of the rst nail 1. As the punches now descend the punch a cuts the blank 1, the ratchet-bar and plate remaining stationary, and the pawl-slide moving back` to engage with the next tooth of the ratchet -bar. The next feed movement of the bar carries the plate entirelyr beyond punch a, but brings the front end of the next plate, which abuts against the rear end of the first plate, into the same position previously occupied by the first plate, or a po-` sition in which, at the next descent of the punches, the punch a will punch nail 1 of the second plate, just as, by its previous descent, it punched nail 1 of the first plate, the same result taking place at every successive descent of the punches, the punch a always punching the first nail of a new plate Aso long as new plates are presented to be punched. The feedmovement that next feeds the iirst plate forward, or that feeds each plate forward after the iirst nail is punched therefrom, carries the plate into position for the punch b to cut nail 3 from the plate, this punch always cutting nail 3 of a plate, and no other nail being cut from the same plate by the same descent of the punches. 'Ihe next feed-movement carries the plate entirely beyond the punch b, and into position under the next punch, c, for said punch to cut the nail 2, or the nail between 1 and 3. The next feed-movement similarly carries the plate into position under the punch d, for said punch to punch nail 5 the next movement taking it into position for the punch cto punch nail 4. After the next movement punch f cuts nail 7 and at the next punch g cuts nail 6, this tinishing the cutting up ofthe plate, if its length be just sufficient for seven nails. Y

1t will be obvious that there must be aloss of material to the amount existing in half of a nail at each end of the plate, the stock being otherwise all utilized. The action of the punches leaves a comb-like plate at the opposite edge of the nail-plate, with teeth composed of the punched shanks extending from a head piece composed of the head-forming portions, theheads having simply to be separated to form the separate blanks like those punched out, one by one, by the punches a, b, &c.

the first plate.

- I prefer, in practicing the invention, to use a gang consisting of fourteen punches, and with plates four in ches long just fourteen common horseshoe-nails or nail-blanks can be cut from one side thereof 5 and when all the plates are fed so that the first plate reaches the last punch, the equivalent of the whole of one side of the plate will be punched into nails at each descent of the punches, the rst punch cutting` the rst nail of one plate when the last or'fourteenth punch is punching the last nail from To cut these nail-blanks the punches are arranged, as to distance apart, as follows: From the center of punch a to the center of punch b the distance is five and threeeigh ths inches; from punch b to punch c six and three-eighths inches; from punch c to punch d ve and oneeighth inches; from punch d to punch e six and three-eighths inches; from punch e to punch f five and one-eighth inches; from punch f to punch g six and three-eighth inches; and so on, the punches alternating, as to distance apart, from five and one-eighth inches to six and three eighths inches, the alternating distances being the same, except the first distance, which is five and three-eighths inches instead of five and one-eighth inches.

I claim- 1. The method of punching nail-blanks by means of a gang of simultaneously acting punches, the first of which punches the first nail of a plate; the second of which punches the third nail of the same plate at the next descent of the punches-the first cutting the rst nail of another plate; the third of which punches,`in succession, the second nail ofeach plate; the fourth the fifth nail of each plate in succession; the fifth the fourth, and so on, the plates having a regular intermittent feedmovement, after each action of the punches, that shall carry each plate to the action of the next punch.

2. In combination with thev gang of simultaneously-acting punches, the feed mechanism, arranged to feed the ratchet-bar for the action of the successive punches, substantially as described.

A. H. CARYL.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS GoULD, M. W. FROTHINGHAM. 

